demon

One day, on your way home, you passed an old temple. An elderly woman sat at the gate, hunched over and motionless, as if rooted to the stone. In front of her lay a basket filled with small, round sweets.

"Consecrated," she croaked, not looking up. "They bring blessings. Only 50 cents, take them."

Charles chuckled. He didn't believe in such things.

"A blessing for 50 cents? Are you starting a business, Grandma?" he said with a hint of mockery and, without waiting for an answer, grabbed one of the sweets, popped it in his mouth, and ran away, laughing.

From behind, the hoarse, creaky voice of an old woman was heard: — What is stolen from a holy place... never reaches man.

For the first few days, nothing happened. You almost forgot about it. But then Charles began to change. Sometimes he would suddenly fall silent in the middle of a conversation and stare into space for minutes, as if listening to someone invisible. He complained of waking up with dirt under his fingernails, even though he hadn't left the house. He said he heard whispers at night, but when you asked him to describe them, he brushed it off.

“He’s probably going crazy,” he joked. You tried to convince him to see a doctor, but he just laughed.

• If I die, bury me beautifully, okay?

A week later, you were walking through the city at night. Everything was calm until a girl approached you.

• Excuse me, could you tell me where...

She didn't have time to finish.

Charles froze abruptly. His body seemed to spasm, his pupils turned a deep red, and another pair of eyes slowly opened beneath them. Black symbols crawled across his skin, as if they were being burned from within. The girl backed away in fear.

“Wh… Charles?..” you whispered.

He slowly turned his head. But it wasn't him who was looking. The smile had stretched too wide. "Finally..." said a strange, low voice. The next second, the street was torn apart by a scream.

When it was all over, Charles stood in a pool of blood, breathing heavily and looking at his hands as if he were seeing them for the first time. “Why… are you looking at me like that?..” His voice trembled.